Australia’s grand mufti has been criticised by federal ministers for not going far enough in his condemnation of the Paris attacks.
Ibrahim Abu Mohamed released a statement on Sunday on behalf of the Australian National Imams Council expressing sorrow at the loss of innocent lives from the weekend’s terror attacks.
The statement also highlights broader concerns around what Mohamed calls the “causative factors” of the attack, including racism, increased security measures and western military intervention in Muslim countries.
The minister responsible for the multiculturalism portfolio, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, expressed disappointment in the statement, saying she would have expected a stronger condemnation of the violence.
“I must say that I would have appreciated seeing a stronger statement from him,” Fierravanti-Wells told Sky News on Tuesday.
She acknowledged that the other factors discussed in Mohamed’s statement do exist, but she said the immediate aftermath of a deadly attack was not the appropriate point in which to bring it up.
“At this particular time, I think it’s important that we focus on what happened and perhaps leave aside those sort of more controversial concerns and let’s focus, certainly, on the condemnation,” Fierravanti-Wells said. “The Australian public in all its diversity would expect strong condemnation.”
The chairman of the Parramatta mosque, Neil El-Kadomi, who issued extremists a harsh warning shortly after a terror-linked shooting in western Sydney last month, said the Islamic community has and does condemn violence.
“Everyone in the community should protect and defend Australia,” he told Guardian Australia.
But he admitted it was “frustrating” when members of the public kept expecting condemnation for violence carried out by individuals.
“We’re being blamed for other people’s acts,” he said, adding that he would support “tougher sanctions” for people who commit terror attacks in Australia.
Earlier on Tuesday, the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, told Macquarie Radio that he “condemned” Mohamed’s comments.
“I think they are a very poor message to young Muslims and to people of good faith across the country because they don’t reflect good thinking,” he said.
“There were some good people out yesterday from the Islamic community condemning without reservation these barbaric acts.
“The grand mufti I think would do well, frankly, to listen to what some of the moderate leaders had to say because they remain the hope of the side if we’re to combat some of this wrong-thinking within the community.”
But the industry minister, Christopher Pyne, warned against making the comments in the aftermath of the Paris attacks a “domestic political issue”.
“This is far too serious a matter to reduce to around whether people are satisfied or not with the comments of a particular person in the Muslim community,” he said.